一事无成 (yī shì wú chéng) — to have achieved nothing; to be a total failure; to get nowhere
Definition
Literally 'not a single thing accomplished' — emphasizes a personal sense of failure after effort. 无所作为 is more about lacking drive from the start; 无所事事 is simply being idle.
phrase
to have achieved nothingto be a total failureto get nowhere
Examples
- ，一事无成。Tā nián qīng shí huāng fèi guāng yīn, rú jīn yī rán yī shì wú chéng.He wasted his time when young and still hasn't accomplished anything.
- 一事无成，。Wǒ bù xiǎng yí bèi zi yī shì wú chéng, suǒ yǐ kāi shǐ nǔ lì chuàng yè.I don't want to achieve nothing in my whole life, so I started striving to build my own business.
- ，一事无成。Jīng lì duō cì shī bài hòu, tā jué de zì jǐ yī shì wú chéng.After many failures, he felt he had accomplished nothing.
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